Chains of Reality: Caste Examination
by Exotos135
Summary: Tie-in to "Chains of Reality: Divinity Reborn". After their first encounter with the Proto-Sisters, Lincoln enlists Lisa's help to discover more about the castes, and find out what their powers are.
1. Request

**So, I was thinking about re-organizing Side Stories when I figured, "Hey, some of these side stories don't work as one-shots", so I decided to split some of those stories and turn them into full stories instead. And this is one of them!**

 **And if you find it a bit annoying or troublesome that this first chapter's so short, it's just a set-up for the later chapters, which will obviously be longer than this one. So, not something you have to worry about for long.**

 **As for when does this take place, let's say between the Introduction and Proto-Lola arcs.**

 **Anyway, let's get this over with and go to the chapter!**

* * *

It was a normal evening at the Loud house, and most of the noisy nature the family was well known for was coming from inside, letting the rest of the house be relatively quiet. This included the backyard, where Lincoln was having a chat with a certain scientist, his sister Lisa.

"So, I know you're busy with your experiments and inventions and all that stuff," Lincoln started, Lisa nodding in agreement. "But still, I need your help with something that only you can help me with."

"Does it have anything to do with the weirdness that Lori and Leni revealed?" Lisa sternly asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "Because, and don't take this as me not wanting to help you, I'd rather not get involved in that tomfoolery. I'm a woman of science, Lincoln, I don't deal with that stuff-"

"Which is why I'm taking an in-between option instead," Lincoln hastily answered. "You see, rather than help me investigate the weird stuff Lori and Leni mentioned, I just need you to research about the castes they mentioned. More specifically, their powers and abilities."

Lisa paused and scratched her chin. "And how am I supposed to do that?"

"This is how It's gonna go: I'll find someone who are part of one particular caste, like Lola or Lily's, and I'll ask them to go to your underground laboratory, so they can show you their abilities and powers," Lincoln explained, only to scratch his head and smile sheepishly as he added. "That's if I find anybody who does know what their powers and abilities are in the first place."

"I'm sure some of your friends should be part of one caste," Lisa shrugged. "Anyway, when can I expect the first subject to come?"

The boy flinched. "Wait, you actually wanna do it?"

"It's a decent way to kill time, I guess," the scientist folded her arms and looked elsewhere. "Plus, I need something to kill some time whenever I'm on one of my long breaks, and as long as the madness doesn't go beyond what I'm willing to humor, then this might actually be interesting. So again, I ask: When should I expect the first subject to come?"

"Well, give me some time to look for people and I'll let you know when I find somebody," Lincoln extended his hand towards the prodigy. "Anyway, do we have a deal?"

Lisa glanced the hand, then her brother's small smile, and she smiled as well before shaking hands with him, stating:

"Deal."


	2. Lori Caste

**Okay, time to begin the research, and what better caste to start with than Lori's caste? And the person that'll help us find out more about them is a special person indeed.**

 **Also, I believe one of my reviewers once suggested that only the intro chapter took place between the intro and Proto-Lola arc, rather than the whole fic. I think that could work, It's not like Lisa plays a big role in Proto-Lola's arc anyway.**

 **Anyhow... I got nothing else to say, actually, so let's move on!**

* * *

At Lisa's laboratory, the scientist herself sat on a chair, tapping her fingers on the table as she looked strictly at large heap of junk covered by a white sheet close nearby. This was the Royal Woodroid 5000, most likely her biggest invention ever, and one she was most definitely proud of. Why, she would be more than happy to show it to anybody who cared to ask for a little sneak peek.

And yet, the girl also felt... no, _knew_ that if the robot's existence was publically known, only two outcomes were possible: Either someone would hack it in order to use it for their own benefits, or possibly tamper with it in order to have a fun joy ride.

Neither of which wound with the Loud family being famously renowned, so of course neither option seemed good to the scientist.

But most importantly, the prodigy was waiting "patiently" for the first subject of her and Lincoln's project, to figure out just what the heck each and every "caste" of the sisters did. After all, it wouldn't hurt to know what powers each of the sisters could obtain in the near future.

So what was taking this subject so lo-!?

"Hey."

Eeep!

"Wha-Who's there?!" Lisa exclaimed as she flinched so hard, her chair spun around for a moment. "How did you get past my top security measures?!"

Once the chair stopped, Lisa recomposed herself fast enough to see a large, unpressed button with "top security measures switch" written above it. Naturally, the prodigy was in disbelief, "Dang it."

"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you," the being said as it walked forward out of the darkness. "In fact, I'm here to help with your little project."

Lisa adjusted her glasses and turned to look at the figure, who she could clearly identify as a young woman with red hair, a blue-green stripped shirt with no sleeves, black pants and blue shoes. This was Becky, one of Lori's friends.

"Name's Becky Johnson, by the way."

This name caught Lisa's attention. "Mrs. Johnson's daughter?"

The redheaded teenager flinched and looked elsewhere before hesitantly answering, "Sister, actually. Her daughter's named Penelope."

"Oh, right, sorry for the presumption," Lisa remarked, quickly turning back to her clipboard. "So-"

"First, sorry about scaring you, but I need to stay intimidating and in control wherever I am," Becky explained as she walked towards a chair and sat down. "You see, I work at a juvie to make sure the delinquents imprisoned there understand that they can't keep acting act like they're the toughest... guys around. Without my strong presence, they'd never learn their lessons, and when they inevitably left, they'd just get back in trouble."

"I can assume adopting such an attitude would be the best course of action, then," Lisa nodded in agreement. "Now, uh, first and foremost, how did Lincoln-"

"Your brother came up to me, asked me if I wanted to help him with something, and I tried to get him to go away because I was busy watching over someone dangerous," Becky sternly explained, folding her arms and rolling her eyes as she finished, "However, he was a persistent little brat, and he wore me down, so I agreed to do it in exchange for him leaving me alone."

"Yeah, Lincoln's persuasive like that, sorry," Lisa shrugged and took out a noteboard. "So, are you ready for the examination?"

"Sure, but what does this entail?" Becky folded her arms and sternly narrowed her eyes. "Your brother told me nothing about how this would work, not even an idea on what to expect."

"Classic Lincoln, forgetting the most important details." Lisa shook her head and chuckled. "Okay, how about we do this; You tell me what powers you have, particularly any you think are exclusive to your caste, and I'll write them down?"

"I guess that's one way to do it," Becky leaned back and put her arms behind her head. "Alright, the abilities that come to mind are riding clouds, controlling lighting and electricity, also known as electrokinesis, and being a viable living cellphone. I think the last one's exclusive to the Lori caste, I've never seen anybody else do it."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Can you elaborate what the last one's supposed to mean?"

"Simply put: You touch my body, any part of my body, and I help you telepathically communicate with whoever you want, as long as I have met that person before," Becky rolled her eyes. "It's a bit harder to explain than the other powers I know, so I suggest we focus on the other ones."

"Okay, so, to what extent do you believe you can use your electrokinesis?" Lisa asked as she wrote down in the clipboard. "Can you hijack any machinery, for example?"

The redhead threw an "are you serious?" look at Lisa and bluntly stated, "Electrokinesis is the power to control lighting and electricity, not machinery."

Becky walked close to a robot with the sign "Todd" on It's chest and touched it to prove her point. "If I tried to hijack any sort of mechanical equipment, I'd probably wind up making it malfunction at best, or blow it up at worst."

The young woman charged the robot with her energy until It's head violently popped out and bounced off to a horrified Lisa's feet. However, Lisa managed to gulp down her shock and recover her composure long enough to write down the info on her clipboard, and ask, "S-S-So, what other powers can you show me?"

"Well, I could show you my ability to ride on clouds," Becky walked towards the elevator, with Lisa following nearby. "It's exactly as it sounds, but your a scientist. Bet you rather have actual proof is better than just hearing about it."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "And how are you going to prove you can do such a thing?"

 _Later, up in the backyard..._

Becky and Lisa exited through her lab's elevator. If Becky was to prove her final power, she needed to see the sky. Luckily, it seemed to be cloudy, but not enough to worry about rain, so Lisa remained silent as Becky whistled, followed by a cloud coming down from the sky, and land right next to the pair.

And though mildly surprised, it was only when Becky got on top of the cloud, without phasing through it in the process, that Lisa's skeptical nature quicked in.

"Okay, so you can get on top of it," Lisa wrote down on her clipboard. "However, can you actually control it like a car?"

Becky extended her hand towards the scientist, and after figuring out she was inviting her for a joy ride, Lisa hesitantly grabbed her hand and accepted the offer. The redhead put the scientist right next to her on the cloud, and before she could adjust to it, Becky snapped her fingers and the cloud flew up high, before dashing forth at top speed.

Lisa yelped and clutched Becky's stomach, holding her as tight as she could as the young woman looked at the prodigy and gave her an amused smile. Once Lisa noticed, she calmed down a bit and said, "S-So, you can control it. How, exactly, do you do it?"

"Well, I don't so much control it as I simply ask it to take me wherever I want, whenever I want," Becky answered with a shrug. "It's almost like the cloud was sentient in a way."

"Huh..." Lisa looked left and right, then whispered to Becky's ear, "Could you ask it if for a cloud, raining counts as "crying" or "peeing"?"

"I'm not asking her that," Becky sternly stated. "We're close to a certain place I'd like you to see."

A bit more cloud-driving later, the duo managed to find th location Becky spoke of. It was a large facility, almost like a prison of sorts, with "R.W.D.F Correctional Facility" written in the entrance, which was guarded by a pair of robotic guards.

"What is that place?" Lisa asked, leaning closer to the edge of the cloud.

"I can't tell you name of the organization, since it's top secret," Becky answered as she casually grabbed Lisa by the neck of her shirt, preventing her from falling off the cloud. "But what I can tell you is that it's main purpose is to house troublemaking kids, teens, even adults. Basically anybody that causes mischief but isn't a criminal."

Lisa tilted her head. "Why is it so far away from Royal Woods, though?"

"Again, the information I can give you about it is limited," Becky sighed and pulled the prodigy closer to her. "Anyhow, that's all I know about my powers, would you like to go back home now?"

Lisa sighed. "Yes, please."

Becky chuckled as the cloud took her and the young prodigy back to the Loud house backyard, where Lisa and Becky got off and dusted themselves.

"So, how long have you been able to do these things?" Lisa asked, scratching her head as Becky gave her a raised eyebrow. "And how have you managed to keep such powers hidden? If you didn't keep them secret, somebody should've noticed by now."

"Ever since I was born, apparently," Becky shrugged, then stopped releasing electricity, releasing the girl from her imprisonment. "And, if we're to assume things, all the castes can do their powers from birth, It's just that they have to consciously activate them to use them. As for how nobody noticed my powers..."

Becky hummed to herself, then said something that turned Lisa's view of the world upside down:

"I guess nobody's surprised, since everybody has powers."

Lisa froze in place in sheer shock. What the heck was Becky talking about?

"W-What do you mean by, "Everybody has powers?" Lisa instinctively asked, turning to Becky with a worried look. "Y-You mean you're not the only one who can do those things?"

Becky rolled her eyes, turned to Lisa and crouched down before poking the prodigy's forehead, saying, "News flash, "genius", castes are compromised of multiple people, so it's simple common sense to assume that more than one person has powers."

Lisa fell silent.

"Well, anyhow, I gotta get back to work, who knows what the inmates have been up to since I asked for a little break," Becky said as she got up and jumped onto her cloud. "I hope the information I gave you was helpful. Goodbye."

The Prodigy nodded and waved goodbye as Becky began to leave, but as the cloud went up, she couldn't help but repeat Becky's last statement in her head:

" _Everybody has powers..._ "

Lisa watched Becky leave for a moment, then looked at her left palm in contemplation.

" _Does that mean..._ " Lisa frowned with worry. " _I have powers too?_ "


	3. Leni Caste

**And now we're on the caste: Leni's! After doing Lori's caste last chapter, I was pondering if I should do Lily or Leni's caste next, but then I realized two things; There aren't that many Lily-caste characters, and I have a very specific character who's part of Leni's caste.**

 **Who's this character? Well, let's read the chapter, shall we?**

 **P.S: I know it may seem weird that I'm reuploading this chapter, but I have a reason. You see, the chapter I originally posted wasn't spellchecked by my pal A Hopeful Observer, and by the time I realized that, it was too late. So I handed the chapter to them, they gave me the notes for it, I updated it, and here we are. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again, I promise.**

* * *

Lisa was checking the Royal Woodroid 5000, trying to get her mind out of the bizarre question presented by the last subject she interrogated.

" _Everybody has powers._ "

The Prodigy briefly paused, giving the statement some thought, but she quickly shook her head and returned to reality. She had a job to do, dang it, and that was to find as much information about the castes as possible.

Speaking of which, wasn't it about time for the next subject to arrive?

Just then, the elevator opened and someone came out of it, probably the very next subject Lisa was supposed to interrogate. This subject was a girl with light blonde hair-so light it almost looked white- a white long-sleeved sweater, and a matching combo of red skirt and red shoes.

"Do I have business with you?" Lisa sternly asked, focusing solely on her work as the girl walked closer. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm kinda busy. In fact, how did you discover the location to this facility?"

The girl reached for her pocket and took out a chocolate bar, which was surrounded by a turquoise glow as she slowly opened, letting the sound of the paper ripping apart to catch the prodigy's attention. She briefly turned around, and almost as if she had lost all thought, she leaped from her seat and snatched the chocolate, completely missing the girl by a mile.

When she tried to take a bite out of it, however, the chocolate poofed out of existence, and the girl giggled as Lisa slowly realized what just happened.

"Name's Mabel, though knowing how your kind works, you're likely just going to consider me "Leni Caste Subject." Such an insulting denomination," Mabel stated as she folded her arms. "How far off am I?"

"Something tells me you're not exactly friendly with scientists," Lisa said as she got up and walked to her chair. "Did you have a traumatic experience with an individual from my profession?"

"It was just a test," Mabel chuckled. "Believe it or not, where I come from, the idea that all people like you are to be feared or hated was drilled into me."

"People like me?" Lisa frowned. "What are you implying?"

"You know, people who're so engrossed in their projects that they fail to take the rest of the world into account," Mabel frowned in disapproval. "People who're willing to use their friends and even family just to get closer to success."

Lisa narrowed her eyes and snapped, "I'm nothing like that!"

Mabel raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying the statement.

"Nevermind, we don't have time to waste!" Lisa took out her clipboard and pen. "Are you one of the subjects I'm supposed to interview, or am I incorrect?"

"Yes, I'm an interviewee, but just for fun, let's assume that I'm not," Mabel folded her arms. "It might be awhile until another arrives, since Leni's caste members aren't all that common. Nor are Lori's caste members, for that matter."

"How do you... whatever," Lisa rolled her eyes. "How did Lincoln convince you to take part in the test?"

"Oh, he didn't convince me, in fact, we didn't meet at all," Mabel casually answered. "I heard about what you were doing from... a reliable source, and I decided to cut you a break and help you out."

The scientist flinched for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. "Who told you about this experiment?"

"Oh sweetie, do you really think I'm going to divulge such sensitive information," Mabel chuckled, waving her hand in a dismissive manner as she added. "Besides, as long as you get what your after, it doesn't matter where the girls come from, right?"

Lisa turned back to her clipboard. "Just tell me what your caste can do so we can get this near-farce over with."

Then, with a stern tone, Mabel answered, "I can create illusions."

This immediately caught Lisa's attention. "Illusions? You mean, you can create distortions of reality at will?"

"That falls more along the lines of being able to control reality, which is not something anybody can do," Mabel answered. "No, I mean illusions as in phantoms, fake images, basically create things that look real, but are simply imaginary."

"Like the chocolate you tricked me with earlier!" Lisa snapped, causing Mabel to gently hit her head and stick out her tongue as she blushed. "Well, what sort of illusions can you create?"

The sweater girl got off her seat, and walked away a little for space, the scientist watching her carefully as she moved. Then, once she was far away enough, Mabel reached for her back and took out a pair of sewing needles.

Lisa raised her eyebrow in confusion. "Why pray tell do you have sewing needles?"

"Silly, these aren't just any pair of sewing needles," Mabel took out next a pair of yarn balls. "With these items I created I can use them to create my illusions! Allow me to demonstrate..."

The sweater girl stabbed the yarn ball with her sewing needles, and pulled them apart to reveal a thread already tied to them. She placed the needles together and made the sewing motion while she closed her eyes and hummed to herself, her chest glowing a turquoise color as the thread slowly came together and formed a familiar, humanoid figure.

After a couple seconds, the figure was fully completed: And it was a clone of Lisa.

However, one thing caught Lisa's attention the most; "What was that weird glow on your chest just now?"

"Nothing important," Mabel casually answered. "Anyway, here you go: I get the threads, I get the needles, I sew it up, and here's an illusion for you."

Lisa got off her chair and walked closer to her phantom-like copycat. She raised a hand, and the copycat did the same. She then spun around once, and the copy repeated her exact motion. Then the prodigy started dancing... really badly, to the point Mabel blushed and covered her eyes as the illusion repeated the dance moves, at least until Mabel snapped her fingers, causing the illusion to vanish from existence.

"Okay, your illusions can imitate someone's movements perfectly," Lisa wrote down in her clipboard. "Is there anything else those illusions can do?"

"If you promise not to dance like that again, I'll show you all the types of illusions I can make and what they can do, okay?" Mabel replied, uncovering her eyes. "Seriously if you do, I'm outta here!"

"Alright, geez, you're so sensitive," Lisa rolled her eyes. "So, where do we start?"

Mabel took a deep breath, and smiled as she got ready to sew more illusions to life. Among these illusions was a dragon that flew around the place, one that even let Lisa ride on it's back as it flew deeper inside, with the prodigy having so much fun, she didn't notice that Mabel went deeper as well, until she found a certain sight that caught her attention.

This sight was Lily, leaning back and forth on her baby crib, while close to some capsules.

"Well, look who we have here," Mabel remarked with a sneaky tone, which she changed for a happier one as she walked to Lily. "Hi there, cutie, I'm a friend of Lisa, she's kinda busy with something, so she told me to come check up on you."

The baby stopped leaning and raised an eyebrow. And once Mabel reached her, the baby girl tilted her head in confusion, though Mabel was seemingly not buying it.

"Oh please, I know you're smarter than this," Mabel stated, folding her arms. "You may not have the enhanced intellect of those from Lisa's caste, but I know when someone is playing the fool."

Mabel parted her sweater a bit, and revealed the birthmark on her chest: A spiraling circle, the first segment of it colored turquoise, the second segment being purple, and the final segment was a green square.

Though Lily couldn't recognize the birthmark or what it meant, she did understand what Mabel just said, so she narrowed her eyes and backed away a Little.

"I know I may seem like I'm your enemy, but really, I'm not," Mabel put her hands on her hips. "The one you should be wary of is Lisa herself!"

Lily blew a raspberry at the girl. "I know it sounds like baloney, but hear me out: Lisa's the kind of person who'll do anything in order to get closer to her goals! She created a trash monster and did nothing to get rid of him! She built a robot that destroyed everything below average or so, and it was only after complaints from her teacher that she dismantled it!"

Mabel leaned closer to the baby, who was starting to grow unsure about Lisa at this point. "And she has even used her own family members as guinea pigs for her experiments!"

Mabel leaned even closer, and put up a worried look as she gently caressed Lily's cheek. "In fact, she has even used you before, hasn't she?"

The baby didn't say anything, she just frowned and looked at the ground. And unfortunately, this was more than enough to help Mabel confirm her suspicions.

"Can you really trust somebody who would use even an innocent baby like you as a guinea pig?" the sweater girl grabbed Lily's cheeks and made her look at her straight in the eyes. "Listen up, your sister may be a genius, but even she has dumb moments! You're one of the only people who can save everybody from the impending Loudgeddon, and if she winds up getting you killed thanks to one of her dang experiments, that's one less chain capable of keeping all of existence intact! Do you understand how big that is, Sandalphon?!"

Lily raised an eyebrow, prompting Mabel to correct herself, "I-I mean, do you understand how dangerous that is, Lily?! Look, I don't feel comfortable talking to a baby in this way, but that's how serious the situation is. Just... promise me, if she wants to try use you as a test subject, don't let her do so by any means."

The baby girl smiled and nodded in agreement, and as soon as Mabel returned the pleased smile, she heard a phone ring. So she took out her phone from her skirt and, seeing someone was calling her, she answered soon afterwards:

"Hello?"

"Mabel, it's Paige," the other voice, Paige, answered from the other end. "Have you passed the info to Sandalphon, yet?"

Mabel narrowed her eyes. "Use her real name, please."

"Sorry, did you give the info to Neo-Lily already?"

The sweater girl turned back to Lily, who waved hello at her with a wide smile. "Yes, that little thing's dealt with."

"Alright, get back here ASAP," Paige requested, though her desperate tone made it sound like she was giving an order instead. "I was just tasked to come find some random girl, looks like Lincoln got himself another love interest."

The knitting illusionist raised an eyebrow. "What will you do to her?"

Paige didn't answer for a moment, almost as if she was hesitant to give an answer. But eventually, she stated:

"Just... just get back here, okay?"

"Alright then," Mabel hung up the phone and turned to face Lily. "Listen, I have to go back help a friend with some business she has, and you probably won't remember me next time we meet, but please, think about what I told you, okay?"

Lily looked around the room, almost as if she seemed unsure about the deal, but she eventually turned back to Mabel, smiled, and gave her a thumbs up.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," Mabel brushed Lily's hair. "And now, I have to be on my way. And also, don't tell Lisa we talked, alright?"

Lily nodded, and Mabel walked towards the elevator as Lisa reunited with her, still riding the illusion dragon. "Hey, this one's rather fascinating! I already wrote down illusions as part of your powers, now, what else can you do?"

Mabel shrugged. "That's all I can do, sorry."

Lisa's joy immediately vanished, and she got off the dragon and ran towards Mabel as fast as possible.

"Don't deceive me, liar!" Lisa exclaimed as she got in Mabel's way. "I mean, that would make sense for a liar, but don't do it anyway!"

"Listen, I already told you I've done everything I can at this point in time," the sweater girl folded her arms sternly. "I have nothing else to show you!"

"B-B-But that can't be all you can do!" Lisa exclaimed in frustration. "I mean, your illusions are impressive, but there has to be more! I mean, the last subject could control electricity, be used as a communication beacon, and ride on clouds!"

Mabel's illusions poofed out of existence, startling the genius into shutting up so she could listen Mabel say, "Darling, as much as I'd like to show you more, any other power I may have simply go back to being just an illusion."

Mabel silently nodded. "So, if I understand what you just said, and I assume that I do, then your powers use illusions as a base?"

"That's basically the gist of it," Mabel nodded and turned back to the scientist. "I mean, I could put all of my effort into making quite the spectacle, but in the end, it's the same thing: an illusion."

"Well then, as much as I'd like to keep on going with the examination, there doesn't seem to be anything else I can get out of you," Lisa wrote that down and sighed. "You may leave now, Mabel, thanks for coming in."

The sweater girl nodded with a smile, and left through the elevator.

"Man, she's such a nice girl, ignoring her sass of course," Lisa remarked, scratching her chin as she thought out loud, "I wonder who told her about the examinations, though."


	4. Lola Caste

**And now we move on to Lola's caste, the one caste primarily featured in the next major arc. Proto-Lola, Lindsey Sweetwater, Lola herself, if there's a character that plays a big role or somewhat of a role in there, then 3 out of 5 times they'll be part of Lola's caste.**

 **Now, the subject chosen for this examination is... kinda interesting. Mostly because, if you were to look at how she actually looks, you wouldn't believe she's part of the Lola caste. I mean, she's not blindingly ugly, but she definitely wouldn't be seen as appealing in the eyes of Lola, or even most people in general. Still, it just goes to show how you can't judge a book of it's cover.**

 **Who am I talking about? Well, read to find out.**

* * *

Sometime after the last subject, Lisa was taking a little break to prepare for the next subject, whenever she came. She mostly spun around her chair while moving it to allow her to check on several topics of interest, including the Royal Woodroid 5000, before she stopped right back where she started. She then got off and walked deeper inside until she met Lily, then offered her a cookie.

For some reason, though, the baby seemed a bit... unsure, about taking the present. Lisa didn't give up, though, and she just waved it in Lily's face until the baby grabbed the cookie, but not before throwing a concerned look at the scientist.

"Hmm, you're normally ecstatic when I present you a cookie, Lily; particularly when I remember it's time to feed you," Lisa scratched her head in confusion. "Is being stuck in an enclosed area bothering you, sis? Do you wanna go out?"

The baby looked elsewhere, then turned back and nodded with a sheepish smile.

"Okay, listen, the next subject for the caste examination Lincoln requested is going to come at any moment now, so I don't have the freedom of letting you outside and potentially get hurt while I'm busy; even more so when taking into account how everybody else would react if that occurred," Lisa brushed Lily's hair. "Listen, once I finish with this subject, I'll take you out to wherever you desire. Or just right back into the house for a less sterilized environment, does that sound good to you?"

Just then, Lisa heard the elevator open up, probably meaning that the next subject had arrived. "That's my cue. Stay right here and don't try anything, okay Lily?"

The baby nodded, and Lisa went back to greet the subject. "Greetings, subject of a caste I don't know yet! Sit down and-"

As soon as the subject stepped out, however, Lisa immediately felt a chill go down her spine, a chill that immediately made her turn cautious as the subject walked to her.

The subject was a redhaired girl, with rather poofy hair at that, glasses like her own, but showing diamond-shaped pupils rather than normal dots, a pink sweater with the icon of an alien in it, a blue skirt, and brown shoes with lavender socks.

"Take your pen and clipboard out, little brat, 'cause I don't have all day," the redhead barked, slamming her fists on the table as Lisa obliged. "Make sure to listen, 'cause I'm only going to say this once: Name's Penelop Johnson, Lola caste, can generate crystals, change or cover parts of my body in different types of crystals, and can used said crystal for several different applications. You got all that?"

Lisa wrote on her clipboard at lighting speed, then meekly said, "I'm also going to need some visual examples of your powers, please."

Penelope suddenly turned her fingernails into crystal claws, making Lisa shriek as she said, "Does this work?"

"W-W-Well, it'll work for now," Lisa nervously wrote that down. "B-B-But I also need to test your other powers!"

"Oh, in that case, we're going to need something we can use as a target," Penelope turned her claws back into fingernails and scanned her surroundings. "Do you have anything small, unimportant, or useless that we could use? Like a paper weight or something?"

"Well, I could retrieve Bitey from Lana's bedroom, but she'd probably kill me if she found out I used him without her permission," Lisa hummed to herself as Penelope took the liberty of looking around the place. "And besides, after the last subject, I want to be a bit more conscious when convincing others that I'm not an amoral scientist like most of my caste are apparently supposed to be..."

Penelope stopped right in front of the view of the covered giant robot, and asked, "What's this thing?"

"Oh! That's a secret project I've been working on for a while now, my magnum opus if you will," Lisa answered as she walked to Penelope's side, and adjusted her glasses as she boasted, "It's the Royal Woodroid 5000! A giant robot built with whatever I could find at the moment. It has the potential to protect Royal Woods from any giant creature that may attack it for whatever reason! And not to toot my own horn, but I built this long before I discovered there were even more potential threats to our world!"

Lisa then narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth as Penelope rolled her eyes and continued looking around.

"Sadly, it's the only one in it's kind, and it's still in a prototype state. I was planning to find some organization who would be willing to invest in it's design so it could be mass produced, but the first organization I found rejected the design and told me it would never work out as it was! And to further add insult to the injury, they actually took days to tell me this statement! But once this baby's completed, I'll show it right to their faces and-"

"Dude, I don't care."

Lisa flinched and turned around to see Penelope standing next to her, holding a little toy soldier on her hand. "I lost interest as soon as you started talking about how your giant robot would save the city from giant monsters and all stuff. I get the feeling you've been watching too much anime or something."

"Well somebody's got some sass going on!" Lisa snapped, before noticing the toy. "Where did you get that toy soldier?"

"While you were rambling, I heard somebody whistle and I went deeper inside to find a baby playing with some toys," Penelope shrugged and leaned the toy soldier closer to Lisa. "She handed me the toy soldier, and seemingly gestured me to use it, then hand it back to her in one piece."

"Huh, that's oddly nice of Lily to do," Lisa focused on the soldier. "So, what power are you going to show me with this toy?"

Penelope smiled, then touched the toy soldier while her upper back started glowing pink. As soon as she touched the toy, it was covered in pìnk crystal, which shined as Lisa's eyes widened in amazement.

"Pretty cool, right?" the redhead asked. "I can do this to both inanimate and animate objects, but I prefer doing it to things that aren't alive for obvious reasons."

"So, how do you make prevent the object inside from shattering?" Lisa inquired as she closely inspected the crystallized toy, scratching her chin as she looked at it with an intrigued look. "Is it a subconscious, or do you need to manually hold back your strength."

"Well, to make sure you understand, I just put a crystal-like shield around it, so if it's shattered, the object inside won't be shattered as well," Penelope remarked, touching the toy again to free it from the prison as she explained, "If it was completely encased, however, not only would it look different, but the thing inside would shatter with it."

Penelope walked to some other artifact, a simple lamp, and covered it in crystal before she tipped it over to the side, causing it to shatter into a million pieces that soon dispersed into light that soon faded away from existence. And all that was left were broken lamp pieces.

"Okay then, so that's something you can do," Lisa wrote it down, with Penelope taking the chance to return the toy to Lily and then come back. "Before we move on to the next power, there's something I need to ask you, concerning those crystal claws you showed me earlier-"

Penelope took out said claws immediately and stated, with a menacing smile, "They're perfectly capable of slashing flesh, if that's what you wanna know."

"T-That I could guess!" Lisa flinched and backed away. "What I wanted to ask you was, how do they work? For example, if you break one of them, do you break the whole finger, or only up to where it would turn into a claw?"

The redhead flinched and got a contemplative look as she turned back to her claws, and said out loud, "To be honest, I don't know. These things are so dang strong that I tend to use them to brake, to climb, to do all sorts of things a normal pickaxe would do; but I never thought about what would happen if they broke. I guess, since these are my fingers transformed, if they broke the whole digit would go?"

Penelope and Lisa flinched at the thought, with Penelope going so far as to say, "L-L-Let's focus on something else!"

 _Sometime later, at the backyard..._

Lisa and Penelope relaxed at the bench, taking a deep breath to try and forget about the things they almost imagined with the crystal claws deal. And, although Lisa had the feeling she had some research left to do, she could see in her eyes that she wanted to get out of there already. And, with her quite frightening tone, the Prodigy would be happy to tell her to go away, so...

"I think we're done for today," Lisa stated, getting Penelope's attention. "I may need to do some research on my own, but it's better than forcing you to stay here and do something you don't want to do. Thanks for your cooperation."

The redhead rolled her eyes, as if to say "finally," then got up and started to walk away, hands on her pockets. As she walked away, however, Lisa suddenly realized she forgot to ask something, so she got off the bench and shouted:

"Wait!"

Penelope stopped right on her tracks.

"What was up with your attitude before?" the prodigy inquired as took a couple steps forward. "I mean, you don't seem like the type to be... aggressive, you know? I mean, sure, by Lola's standards, you'd probably have the face of a thug, but-"

"I act tough for the sake of our kind, four-eyes."

Lisa stopped and turned back to see Penelope, her arms folded behind her back. She continued to speak as her and Lisa's blew in the wind, and the scientist listened intently:

"You know how it feels like, don't you? To be considered lesser because of how you look? You and I look like what most people would consider "nerds." Pure smarts, little brawn. People will think we're smarter than the rest, but when it comes to defending ourselves, there's nothing we can do. They think we're helpless, harmless, that a little bit of intimidation will be enough to convince us to serve them unconditionally."

The prodigy couldn't really claim to have experience any of that before. However, she also couldn't claim to not have seen such events take place: She was one of Lincoln's sisters, of course, and going to the same school as him meant that she would see sights similar to what Penelope describe. Lincoln was even the victim of such scenes.

"Which is why I have a goal that I plan to fulfill regardless of the obstacles presented against me!" Penelope exclaimed, clenching her fist and raising it as she declared, "I will let them know that we, "nerds," aren't just some random weaklings they can use to get what they want! We're people! We deserve respect!"

Penelope lowered her fist, then muttered with a murderous intent, "And they deserve to be taught a lesson they'll never forget."

"Who are these "they" you're talking about?" Lisa asked concerned. "Are they people we're gonna have to worry about in the future? Or are these just random bullies you refuse to call by name?"

"... The "they" I'm talking about are beings beyond what we could comphrehend, with a malice just as unfathomable," Penelope folded her arms. "My forces have already dealt with some of their avatars, but I still need to gather strength. Only then, can I make them truly pay for what they did to my friends... to my _daughter_..."

Then, with furious intent, Penelope opened her eyes and looked straight at the reader.

"To my _Clyde_."

However, it turned out she was simply looking at Lisa, who hit the ground soon afterwards.

"But anyhow, I'm done with you for today," the redhead backed away and sighed. "I'm gonna go back home before I suddenly start pulling even scarier faces at you."

Penelope walked away, and as soon as she was out of view, Lisa realized something:

"Wait, did she mention she had a daughter?!"


	5. Lana Caste

**Okay, last chapter was focused on Lola's caste, so it's only fair to tackle Lana's caste for this chapter! And if you thought Lisa and Penelope didn't get along, just wait until you see how Lisa interacts with this particular subject! Or should I say, subjects?**

 **Also, no, sadly, I'm not yet back to a stable writing schedule by the time I post this. I just chose to post this now because, well, I've put this story on hold for long enough.**

 **Anyway, let's move on!**

* * *

Lisa sat on her desk, looking at a picture of Penelope and Clyde together, with a massive cluster of lines spread across it leading to pictures of cloning, alternate dimensions, adoption, and so on. Each and every single one of the option pictures, however, were marked out.

"It's hopeless! No matter the hypothesis, I _can't_ find a logical explanation for Penelope having offspring!" Lisa snapped, throwing her papers up in the air. "I mean, it is possible with cloning or adoption, but the former's too complex for Clyde and Penelope, and the latter wouldn't be possible since they are both adolescents!"

And then she realized what she did. "My research notes!"

The prodigious toddler got off her chair and ran around the laboratory, hoping she could catch as many papers as she could before they were blown away elsewhere. And then she tripped on something, and as soon as she hit the ground, Lisa turned to see what she tripped with, and saw it was Lily, who was crawling around the metallic floor with a look of sadness.

"Lily, how did you get out of your crib?!" Lisa got up, lifted the baby and walked her back to her crib. "Listen, I know I promised to take you to the outdoor, recreational play area street name park, but I desperately need to solve to solve troubling conundrum that lies before me!"

The baby, of course, didn't understand a word of what her sister said. "Okay listen: Apparently, one of Lincoln's classmates, who's only around 11 like him, has-or at least had-a daughter!"

Lily opened her mouth, as if to say "No way!" in disbelief.

"I know, right?! It's just such a baffling concept!" Lisa sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I never even thought such a think could be possible, but-"

Suddenly, the duo heard the elevator open.

"The next subjects have arrived!" Lisa rubbed Lily's head. "I'm sorry, Lily, but I have to go take care of this."

Lisa pushed the teddy bear closer to Lily before going back to see the subject. Lily, however, looked at the bear with confusion, and even slight boredom, before she took out and put a fox mask over it. She shouted "Fafa!" and hugged the masked toy with delight.

"Greetings, and welcome to my laboratory," Lisa tiredly remarked, taking out her pen and clipboard combo as she added, "Sit down and-"

However, the prodigy got a surprise when she saw not one, but two people come out of the elevator: Liam, one of Lincoln's classmates, and Hattie, his cousin, and one of the girls Lincoln dated to try get over his funk with Ronnie Anne's moving.

"Two subjects?! I have two subjects today?!" Lisa exclaimed, almost throwing her pen and clipboard in the air before she stopped herself. "My mind was already blown by the last three individuals! But most importantly, why are there two of you?"

"Well, I was originally going to come here and do this examination thing alone," Liam explained, scratching the back of his head nervously. "But Hattie over here heard me talk to my Grandma about it, and she stubbornly decided to come with me-"

"I may like Sci-Fi, but that doesn't mean I have to trust scientific stuff or scientists like you!" Hattie snapped, clinging to Liam's arm before adding, "I've watched enough movies to know what people like you could do to my cousin, and I'm not going to give you the chance to do it!"

"Great, another subject that thinks I'm a proverbial mad scientist, just what I needed," Lisa muttered. "Listen, I'm just a simple toddler prodigy who's helping her brother figure out what each caste can do. I don't have any desire to hurt you. Anyway, if you're doing being a paranoid weirdo, I'd like you to tell me what powers your caste possesses, Liam."

"Wait, you want me to show my powers right away?" Liam asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Aren't you going to ask us where our birthmarks are located?"

Lisa stopped on her tracks and turned around. "Is that supposed to hold some sort of significance?"

"Our Grandmother always told us that the birthmarks everybody has have some sort of meaning depending on where they're located," Hattie explained, before Liam showed his right arm, which is where his birthmark was located. "For example, Liam's birthmark is on her arm, and as a guy, that means he's a family man and prefers to stay at home."

Hattie then lifted her face a bit, revealing her birthmark was on her chin. "As for Hattie, her birthmark's on her chin, which means she primarily supports and provides for the family."

"I guess I'm supposed to take that her being this clingy is her way of being true to her birthmark's significance?" Lisa deadpanly inquired, raising an eyebrow as Hattie clung to Liam's arm once more. "I'll take that as a yes. Anyway, can I see her birthmark again?"

Hattie rolled her eyes and looked up, revealing her chin birthmark. Lisa promptly revealed her forehead, which showed her birthmark on her forehead... slightly to the right.

"Okay, I have the same birthmark, so I'll assume you're part of my caste," Lisa wrote that fact on her clipboard as Hattie looked down and crossed her arms. "So, what can you tell me about our caste's powers?"

The girl remained silent, with a stern look across her face.

"You know, super powers? Odd ability you and people in the same caste can do? Like controlling machinery, and so on?"

Same response. Or lack of response, for that matter.

"Okay, clearly, either I'm not being understood, or you're being passive-aggressive for whatever reason," Lisa remarked, adding as the subject took a deep breath. "Listen, I'm kind of on a schedule, and I don't want this to take so long the next subject arrives and-"

And then the girl growled, "Where are the animals you're keeping as test subjects, you sick psycho?"

Lisa flinched, and blinked twice, feeling stupified at what was just said. "W-What did you say?"

"You heard me, you little mad scientist in the making!" Hattie stomped forward to Lisa, grabbed her by the neck of her sweater and pulled her up. "Where are the animals you're keeping imprisoned to use for your sadistic experiments!? You're a scientist, so there should be some innocent creatures you're keeping trapped for your experiments!"

"I-I-I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Hattie, stop it!" Liam barked. "If there's somebody here that should be worried about the animals, that would be me! And I can't sense any animals nearby, so please, put her down!"

Hattie growled at the scientist, then dropped her on the floor, allowing Lisa to crawl back to her chair and catch her breath before snapping, "What the heck is wrong with your cousin!?"

"Trust me, everybody who's ever met her has had the exact same question," Liam shook his head. "And oddly enough, they've said it in the exact same furious tone as well."

"Okay, so, your cousin won't tell me anything about her powers," Lisa narrowed her eyes. "And in fact, I'd appreciate it if she left us alone so we can do this examination without any potential harm coming to either of us."

Hattie gritted her teeth, but Liam quickly interjected, "Hattie, please let me handle it. I'll be fine, don't worry."

The girl turned back to Lisa, and walked deeper into the lab, pushing Lisa to the side before she left. Liam immediately walked to Lisa and helped her get up, with the prodigy giving Hattie an angry look, before turning back to Liam as he said, "I'm so sorry-"

"What the ever loving heck is up with your cousin?!" Lisa snapped, startling the boy. "I mean, seriously, I'm here, just trying to get all this business done with, and then she comes here and threatens me like that!"

"Yeah, she hasn't been the same ever since she joined that Lincolnism movement," Liam casually said, earning a confused look from Lisa that prompted him to explain further. "We were hanging out at the school, when one of the girls asked her if she had met Lincoln before. She said they went on a date sometime ago, and she went with them once they said they had cookies."

"Ah yes, cookies, the hardest sweet to reject," Lisa shook her head and chuckled in amusement.

"Yeah, she left for a really long time, so I just went on with my day as usual," Liam scratched the back of his head and looked elsewhere. "When I found her back home, though, she had those purple eyes and her attitude had changed to more along the lines of what you just saw-"

"I'll stop you right there," Lisa interrupted. "While I do find your explanation fascinating, I'm afraid we don't exactly have the spare time to hear more about it, but I will look into it at a later date."

Lisa sat back on her chair. "For now, show me what powers you have."

As that happened, Hattie started looking around deeper into the lab, trying to find the imprisoned animals she thought Lisa was keeping around. Unfortunately, though, the only things she managed to see were robotic models, the covered Royal Woodroid 5000, and pretty much a bunch of mechanic and metallic stuff that were interesting, but not what she was looking for.

Eventually, she crashed close to a door labelled "emergency exit." She promptly opened it to see it lead to an elevator similar to the one she and Liam took to enter, only it seemed to lead somewhere else in the Loud house entirely. However, Hattie simply closed the door and continued to look around...

And then she heard a baby laugh.

Recognizing the laughter, Hattie went to the source of the laughter, this being Lily, and approached her as she said, "Well hello there... Sandalphon..."

Back with Lisa and Liam, the scientist wrote down some notes as Liam spoke with a frog he held in his hands. "Okay then, so you can talk with animals. Is this an ability shared by other members of your caste?"

"I'm not familiar with many other members of your sister's caste, but I have seen some of them, and all of them were able to talk with animals," Liam let the frog go, watching it hop away as he added, "So, yeah, you could say the caste as a whole can talk to animals."

"Excellent, we're making some decent progress," Lisa hummed to herself. "How about turning into an animal? Can you do that?"

Liam took a deep breath, then closed his eyes before his physical form morphed into that of a bull, with his clothes accomodating to the size right away. Needless to say, Lisa was impressed.

"Impressive! Even your clothes transformed with you!" Lisa wrote that down on her clipboard. "Speaking of which, why didn't your clothes stretch and rip apart when you transformed?"

"Oh, these clothes were gifted to me by Hattie," Liam answered as he turned back to normal. "Supposedly, she got a tailor to make the clothes magical, so that they don't rip when I transform, but instead morph with me."

"Very interesting," Lisa scratched her chin. "Has your cousin, by the way, shown any peculiar powers that you don't think you have?"

"Well-"

Suddenly, Lily's cries were heard from all the way deep inside the laboratory, making Lisa and Liam immediately go towards the spot Lily was last seen at. And once they arrived, they saw Lily crying as she tried to fight back Hattie, who was grabbing her and trying to head for the emergency exit.

Once he saw this, Liam narrowed his eyes, transformed into a bull and rushed straight for Hattie, trapping her between his horns and allowing Lily to bite her, making her flinch and release her in pain. And the baby fell right on Lisa's arms, who was less than happy about the implication of the situation.

"What. Were you..." Lisa narrowed her eyes, which glew green as she was surrounded by a green aura. "Doing with my baby sister?"

The nearby electronic devices started to glitch and the lights started to flicker as Liam turned back to normal, while making sure to keep a hold on Hattie in place. Lily also noticed the glitches, and started to cry, causing Lisa's aura to dissipate and her eyes to turn back to normal as she turned her attention to her baby sister.

"C-C-Calm down, Lily, please calm down!" Lisa exclaimed as she tried to comfort the baby. "Your older sister is here now. And she'll make sure you don't get hurt anymore."

Lily's crying stopped for a moment and she gave Lisa a worried look, with a little tear running down her cheek before Lisa wiped it off and stated, "I promise."

Just then, however, an explosion happened right on Hattie and Liam's spot, with the resulting smoke cloud covering the pair long enough to nearly stun Lisa, but not without letting her smack away the dust cloud to reveal... the duo were no longer there.

" _There's something up with those two, specially that Hattie girl,_ " Lisa thought, narrowing her eyes as she placed Lily back on her spot. " _I should be wary of her, just in case she appears again._ "

 _Meanwhile, with Hattie and Liam..._

The cousins stood in front of Mabel at a desolate alley, with the illusionist girl looking rather displeased. However, the way she strictly glared at Hattie made it clear her anger was mostly towards the girl.

"What were you thinking, Hattie?!" Mabel snapped, fury evident in her tone. "You can't just up and try to kidnap Sandalphon!"

"It's for the sake of the world, Mabel! She's the only one who can convince the unborn progenitor to join our side!" Hattie turned to her cousin and snapped, "Liam, help me out here!"

"H-Hattie, you know that I'm not interested in the "Lincolnism" business, and besides, I don't even know why you need to steal a baby, that sounds cruel to me," Liam walked to Mabel's side. "If anything, I'd have to agree with the watermelon-headed girl here."

Mabel promptly slapped Liam in the cheek. "Watermelon Girl" has a name, you know? It's Mabel."

"Sorry," Liam twiddled his fingers. "Is Hattie going to get in trouble for this? 'Cause she needs to be home before night, or-"

"That'll be for Progenitor Luna to decide," Mabel folded her arms. "For now, go back home and rest, I'll tell what happened to the other lincolnists."

"But the church is miles away from here!" Hattie pointed out.

"And that would be an issue," Mabel smirked. "If I was actually here right now."

Mabel burst into a stream of confetti, revealing herself to be nothing more than another one of her illusions. Baffled, but not having time to waste, Liam and Hattie shrugged it off and walked back home, with Hattie turning back to the spot the illusion used to be with a distrustful look before following her cousin.


	6. Four In A Row

**So, in case you haven't noticed, this story's being going on for quite a while, which hasn't been helped by the hiatuses and all the other stuff I had the bright idea on working on.**

 **But, since I've managed to find some time in my busy schedule (Which, to be honest, is mostly my fault XD) I decided to finish up this chapter, so only one is left.**

 **And who will we see in this chapter? Well... Read to find out.**

* * *

Lisa sat on the ground, placing a hand on her cheek as she tiredly took a deep breath. Right next to her was her baby sister, Lily, who gently ruffed her sister's hair as she spoke some baby gibberish, probably trying to get her attention.

Soon afterwards, Lisa turned to the baby and said, "Sorry, youngest sibling, I'm just... feeling exhausted from all these examinations. I figured they wouldn't be a big deal, but here I am, still trying to process all the information I've learned from these past specimens."

Lily frowned and said some baby gibberish. This prompted the scientist to smile and give her sister a head pat.

"It's okay, Lily, it's all for a good cause," Lisa said. "Besides, I just need to analyze a few more castes, and I can finally enter a short term REM cycle, street name nap."

Just then, the next subject arrived through the elevator, prompting Lisa to silently stand up and go towards there to greet them...

Only to get a shock when she saw she had multiple subjects once more, four to be exact:

Polly Pain, Giggles, Tabby, and Haiku, the Sadie Hawkins dates.

"Hello, are you the Lisa we were told about?" Tabby asked. "We were asked to come here for an examination of some sort."

"Y-Yeah, I'm examining the castes of the world and documenting their abilities," Lisa answered, scratching the back of her head. "But before we begin, who are you?"

"I'm Tabby, and these are my mates: Giggles, Haiku, and Polly Pain," the young rock star said as she introduced the team. "We were Lincoln's dates for the Sadie Hawkins dance."

Lisa dropped on her knees and loudly whined, making the girls worry.

"W-What happened?!" Haiku asked. "Is it something Tabby said?!"

"I was hoping I would never have to deal with that Sadie Hawkins nonsense!" Lisa groaned as she stood up. "My sisters pestered me both before and after that dance was over, and it was unbearable!"

Tabby and Polly Pain exchanged concerned looks, while Haiku frowned in sympathy, and Giggles argued:

"Well, at least we don't have to explain to her what happened."

"Okay, so, logically I would ask you to show me you abilities one at time so I can properly record my findings, but in light of my previous subjects and and my waning mental energy, I surmise that may be wishful thinking on my part" Lisa took a deep breath. "I've come to realize that the deeper I investigate into the castes, the more I come to understand how exhaustive a task I have volunteered to undertake for my family."

"And you noticed just now?" Giggles asked worriedly. "I mean, you're just four years old, and you're already investigating something as big and important as the castes!"

"I didn't choose to be born with my high level of intelligence!" Lisa snapped, only to suddenly sadden as she calmly added, "Sometimes, I feel like said intelligence distances me from my family."

Haiku shrugged. "That, or the rest of your family's a bunch of idiots in comparison to you, making it hard for you to grow close to them."

"That's hardly better," Lisa tiredly sighed and got ready to write something down her clipboard. "Anyway, let's start so we can get this over with."

The Sadie Hawkins dates exchanged looks, nodded in agreement, and Tabby, Polly, and Giggles remained at the sidelines as Haiku sat on the chair.

"I just said we didn't have to go one at a time," Lisa sternly pointed out.

"You're tired and exhausted from the previous examinations, right?" Haiku retorted, narrowing her eyes. "You may think that doing all four of us at once will be the better option because it is faster, but that'll make you collapse, or worse! Better slow and steady."

Lisa rolled her eyes at the statement, though her body language suggested she agreed with the goth's statement.

"Anyway, I'm Haiku, Lucy's friend," the gothic poet stated. "As you can imagine, I'm part of Lucy's caste."

Lisa wrote that down. "Show me your birthmark, please."

Haiku parted her hair and revealed her forehead, where her birthmark was located.

It was shaped like a skull, with grey-purple first segment, a light blue second segment, and an orange spade in the center.

Lisa squinted her eyes. "Is your first segment grey, black, or purple? I can't tell from here."

"It's grey." Haiku stated.

"Are you sure?" Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Because-"

Haiku narrowed her eyes. "It's. Grey."

The toddler scientist backed away and wrote that down. "Okay, what powers do you possess, which are shared by all members of Lucy's caste?"

Haiku flinched, almost as if she wasn't expecting that question. But she quickly regained her composure and calmly stated:

"Manipulation of light, darkness, and the ability to see the dead."

Lisa wrote that down. "Since the latter two can't really be shown to me, the darkness because I am fond of it and the dead vision for obvious reasons, how about you show me the light manipulation?"

Haiku nodded, got off the chair, then opened her hand and generated a little ball of light. She then moved her hands around in specific motions to contort the ball into different shapes, like a dinosaur, a scythe, and a Helix DNA strand.

Lisa seemed impressed as Haiku's sphere dissipated into nothing. "Okay, anything else you can do?"

"I'm assuming you only want powers everybody in the caste shares, right?" Haiku asked, earning a nod from the scientist. "Then that's it for me."

Lisa wrote that down and exclaimed, "Next!"

Haiku returned to the group and Polly Pain walked to the chair and sat down as she said:

"I'm Polly Pain, Lynn's friend."

"You're the only one that was introduced with their full name," Lisa remarked. "It's not important or relevant to the examination, I'm just saying it caught my attention."

"Yeah, I never really understood why everyone addresses me by my full name," Polly answered, scratching the back of her head. "I mean, I now know Tabby and Giggles' surnames, but Haiku's still a mystery."

"Not surprising," Lisa remarked. "So, what can your caste do?"

"Fire manipulation, and super speed," Polly folded her arms. "It takes a little while to get used to both of those, though."

"I think that's an hurdle all castes share," Lisa said as she wrote that down. "Now, instead of showing the fire manipulation, tell me; Have you seen evidence that the caste is fireproof? Or at the very least possess a higher resistance to fire? I figured that would be required to avoid being burned alive."

"Well, I've seen most people of the caste come in contact with fire with no problem, so, I guess we do have that?" Polly shrugged. "Still, I haven't seen anyone test to see if we have a limit to our resistance to fire. They would have to be crazy to push their powers that far. And when it comes to super speed-"

"That'll be enough," Lisa stated. "Next, please."

Polly raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

Lisa threw a glare at Polly and growled, "Next. Please!"

Seeing the girl wasn't in a good mood, Polly returned to the team, and Giggles sat down next.

"I'm Giggles, Luan's friend."

"Okay, I'm gonna be bold and take a guess on what your caste can do," Lisa hummed. "Weaponize puns, perhaps?"

Giggles got ready to say something in response, but after thinking about it, she nodded and said, "Yeah, that's the gist of it."

"Magnificent! If I can summarize the abilities of the caste like that, then we can wrap this up soon," Lisa stated as she wrote that down.

"Wait, that's not the only thing we can do! We can also control water!" Giggles added. "And also, the only one I can think of who could use puns for everything is Luan-"

"Well, that's just a logical conclusion," Lisa answered. "If my siblings really are the successors of the deities in charge of the castes, maybe even the whole world, then they'll obviously have access to a wider move set than the castes members."

This made Giggles realize something. "Wait, if all the Louds have more abilities than the rest of the castes, doesn't that include you and your baby sister?"

Lisa paused, then sternly repeated, "Next!"

Giggles left the chair, and Tabby sat down next.

"I'm Tabby, Luna's friend."

"Okay, Luna's friend, I'm assuming your powers are related to sound, right?" Lisa guessed.

"And gravity, to an extent," Tabby added. "But that's an advanced technique."

Lisa's eyes widened at the revelation. "Gravity? That's interesting."

"I can't use that technique, though, sorry," Tabby replied. "I can only generate a soundproof shield, and scream really loud."

Lisa wrote that down, then put the clipboard and pen down. "That shall be all for today, thanks for your cooperation."

Tabby shook her head. "Why am I not surprised you didn't bother doing any tests?"

With that said, the Sadie Hawkins dates left through the elevator, and Lisa got off her chair and took a deep breath as Lily crawled to her.

"Well, Lily, we got all the castes, unless we just so happen to have some long lost sister," Lisa sighed. "Now, all I have to do is finalize my studies, hand them to Lincoln, and then my cranium can finally rest from this insane experience."

Lily frowned at Lisa, making the prodigy add, "Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it, I just... found it very tiring."

Lily nodded in agreement, then realized something, making her blurt some gibberish that Lisa translated as:

"Our castes' abilities?"

Meanwhile, with the dates, te girls walked back home, Haiku looking concerned while Tabby glared at her, and Polly and Giggles watched the scene, not sure whether they should interfere or not.

And then Haiku noticed the glare rather quickly.

"Don't look at me like that!" Haiku snapped. "I told the girl what I was comfortable with, okay?!"

"You barely covered the basics," Tabby stated. "You should've told her more!"

"Why?!" Haiku asked.

"She's clearly the kind of person who gets upset if she can't get everything the first time around," Tabby said. "Telling her a little bit more wouldn't have hurt, you know?"

"Like what, Tabby, huh? What else could I have said?" Haiku retorted. "By the way, Lisa, most of our powers aren't available until we die!" Does that sound like something you should tell a toddler!?"

"Now, Haiku, she might be only 4 years old, but she is more mature than that," Polly argued. "I'm sure she could've handled the truth."

"Maybe if she was alert, but she was clearly exhausted!" Haiku replied. "She probably needed to rest, and telling her that stuff would've scared her!"

Haiku looked elsewhere. "Especially in the context of her sisters."

"Okay, let's all calm down," Giggles said, separating the three girls. "What matters is that the stuff with Lisa is done, and we can focus on other stuff."

"Like?" Haiku asked.

"I'll tell you when we get home."

So the dates continued to walk back to their homes, having other things in mind, and other things to do.


	7. Lisa and Lily Caste

**Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the final chapter of Caste Examination! Man, that took much longer than it should have, huh? XD**

 **Speaking seriously, I do want to apologize for taking so long to finish this story, as well as the constant hiatuses in Chains of Reality and any other story I've been writing for the past couple of months. Why have I been taking so long?**

 **First, there's an insane amount of stuff to cover for the Proto-Lucy arc, as it will be the most intense, most insane arc yet, especially compared to the original version.**

 **Second, A Hopeful Observer has school stuff to keep in mind, so he's not as available for beta reading as he once was. And sure, I could just beta read the story by myself, but I honestly believe Hope's beta reading is better.**

 **Third, I do have a schedule to think of. Not so much for this story, which has been all over the place, but for the main story. I can't just decide to post a chapter a Wednesday or twice a week when I decided to do it Sundays.**

 **Fourth, I have about several dozen ideas in my head that either will be implemented on to my story, or turned into other, lesser stories not connected to Chains of Reality.**

 **But anyway, what I'm trying to say is, things aren't as easy as they used to be, so updates and uploads can take a while, and all I ask from you is the patience to sit through the Steven Universe-style hiatuses between chapters.**

 **What was the point of saying all that in a story that's basically finished? No reason, just thought you should know.**

 **Anyway, I've blabbered long enough, let's go on to the finale.**

* * *

Lisa Loud had gone through a lot in her quest to find out the abilities of the castes, mostly her witnessing phenomena that challenged her view of the world.

Now, she just had to figure out what were her own powers. And Lily's too.

"Okay, with my genius intellect there is only one logical conclusion," Lisa said to herself, walking back and forth while Lily looked at her. "My powers are related to the mind."

Lisa snapped her fingers. "Which means I have either telekinesis, telepathy, or mind control powers!"

Then she thought about it some more. "Actually, let's scratch off mind control, that sounds like a power a criminal mastermind would have."

To test it out, the young scientist grabbed a lab rat, put it on the desk, then placed her index and middle fingers on her forehead as she said:

"Okay, lab rat, can you hear me?"

The rat did nothing.

"Repeat, can you hear me?"

Same results. So naturally, Lisa went to the next test: Telekinesis.

She placed her palm in front of the animal and exclaimed:

"By the power of my mind, I command you to levitate!"

The rat looked at the girl incredulously before it ran off, leaving the scientist disappointed.

"Dang it, one of those two should've worked!" Lisa complained, putting her hands on her waist. "That's how they operated Lincoln's comic books!"

Then, the scientist turned around and saw Lily, who was looking at her with a smile.

"Lily, if you had powers, what do you think they would be?" Lisa inquired, scratching her chin as she added, "I can at least hypotheses what your abilities are based on your thoughts."

Lily scratched her chin, then snapped her fingers and said "Poo poo!"

"Manipulation of poop, or fertilizer for a less grotesque label?" Lisa hummed. "I'm not sure, I mean, that could be your ability, but I don't know what purpose it would have."

Lily rolled her eyes and drew something on a piece of paper, before handing it to Lisa.

She adjusted her glasses, and saw that it was a crudely drawn Lily riding a large fox creature, with several smaller foxes following them.

"Lily, what are you suggesting with this picture?" Lisa bluntly asked.

The baby said some gibberish.

"Manipulation over Vulpes vulpes?" Lisa hummed again. "I guess it would make sense, with Fenton the Fox and all, but that sounds like an ability that would befit Lana."

Lisa, too exhausted from everything that had happened, took a deep breath and said, "Whatever, we'll find out about it later."

Then she grabbed and lifted her baby sister as she said, "Come on, Lily, let's go gather our reports so we can deliver them to Lincoln."

With that said, the duo left the laboratory through the elevator... and as soon as they were gone, a familiar figure came out of the shadows:

Mabel.

"Have they left yet?" asked a voice through the girl's earpiece.

"Yes, the coast is clear," Mabel replied as she walked to some papers and put one among them. "Remind me why are we doing this again?"

" _His_ caste may not exist in name, but they still possess a dangerous power no other caste has," Paige explained as Mabel raised an eyebrow. "They need to know about it, before its too late."

"And why not disclose the same for Lisa and Lily's castes?" the fashionista asked.

"Too risky, especially if they decide to join the battle," was all Paige said. "Anyhow, put the paper there, then get out of there."

"Got it."

Mabel turned off her earpiece, and glanced at the paper before she left the building as well.

The paper read:

 _Caste: Casteless_

 _Special powers:_

 _* Mimicry._

 _Caste Overseer: -REDACTED-_

 _Special power:_

 _* Deus Ex Machina._


End file.
